We had a great time at tonight’s Michigan Abolitionist Project Round Table event at the Troy Community Center.
We heard great presentations and information from the Joseph Project, Vista Maria and others.
Here’s a photo of some of our group that attended tonight’s event:
Michele earned her Executive MBA degree from Michigan State University’s Eli Broad College of Business, elevating her success in the operational and administrative business environment.
With over 25 years experience in procurement, Michele has served multi-national billion dollar organizations such as thyssenkrupp, Autoliv and JLL. She currently serves on the board of MSU EMBA Alumni Association as well as dedicating time to the mission of Hope Against Trafficking.
Michele has a passion for travel and has been on five continents with the ultimate goal of seeing all seven. She and her husband James live in Lake Orion and together enjoy spending time with children and grandchildren.
Barbara Rausch has been engaged as a Board Member of MW-HAT since its founding, helping to set the strategic direction for the organization. Barbara has a BS in Marketing and an MBA in International Business and currently works as Associate Vice President of Cognizant in a Healthcare Market Leader role.
Barbara previously worked as Managing Sales Director for Accenture’s North American Healthcare and has served on several non-profit Boards as well as Boards for two startup companies.
Robert, a retired Auto Production Engineering Designer for 28 years at General Motors and previous has 15 years as an Architectural Engineering Designer. While working full time he also obtains a Residential Builders, Heating, and a Real Estate Licenses he calls his hobbies.
Also elected and serviced on the Troy City Council 1993 – 1997, Elected to the Michigan House of Representatives 1999 – 2006 and Elected to the Oakland County Board of Commissioners 2006 -2016.
Janna brings years of business and community support to Hope Against Trafficking. Her passion for helping women of all ages maximize their opportunities arises from strong Human Resource and Business Management experience in both public and private sectors. She has developed position-sharing departments and job posting programs for independent businesses and Fortune 500 companies including Advance Mortgage-Citicorp, Chubb Pacific Indemnity, Kidder Peabody & Co., and LTV Aerospace. Janna’s training seminars for HR departments and Executive Search firms have helped many women move from ‘survive to thrive’ employment, while reducing turnover and associated costs.
Snyder has served on Boards and Committees including Detroit Women’s Economic Club, Michigan Professional Women’s Network, Women of the Kirk, Kirk Presbyterian Pre School Board and the National Association of Personnel Consultants.
She has a Bachelor of Science in Integrated Leadership from Central Michigan University. Janna grew up in Detroit and currently resides with her husband, Craig, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. They have two grown children, Ross and Kellie.
“I’m excited about collaborating with Hope Against Trafficking and their related recovery communities. Utilizing a vast network of local resources represents the very definition of networking at its best. Seeing local professionals and volunteers providing a full spectrum of health, education and tangible life skills training is amazing. These services empower victims to become productive, fulfilled members of society. Institutional and Correctional facility treatment programs alone traditionally provide short term, potentially expensive services with limited accountability. By collaborating, we can increase long term success rates and reach more victims.”
Lexie Schwarze is the Life Impact Director with Woodside Bible Church. Over the past 10 years, she has been able to take a brand-new mission ministry with a part-time staff of 1, to today a staff of 4 serving 14 campuses, with over 11,000 attendees weekly, 45 international missionaries, 5 global partnerships, 2 orphanages with over 100 children, and 5 local ministries.
Her passion for human trafficking started 6 years ago, during a layover in Bangkok, Thailand. She saw firsthand the red-light district where the very young being sold, she vowed to help stop the injustice of children being sold for sex. Upon returning to the states she became aware of the numbers sold into human trafficking here in the states. With a local focus on mine, she helped start Unshackled – a Voice for the Voiceless.
“Working with survivors of Human Trafficking and bringing awareness to our community on this issue is something that is very important to me,” said Tracey. “I am honored to start as Hope Against Trafficking’s new Executive Director and look forward to making an impact as a servant leader.” Read Tracey’s announcement here.
Hannah received her MA in Rehabilitation Counseling and worked with head trauma survivors providing clinical programming and therapy until she came home to be a stay at home mother of 3 young children. Over the last 7-8 years, she became passionate about forging change in the area of human trafficking.